


Negotiating

by rabidsamfan



Category: Sherlock Holmes & Related Fandoms, Sherlock Holmes (Downey films)
Genre: Infertility, Multi, Polyamory Negotiations, Referenced Suicide Attempt/Thoughts
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2010-03-19
Updated: 2010-03-19
Packaged: 2018-10-31 23:06:07
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 512
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10909323
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/rabidsamfan/pseuds/rabidsamfan
Summary: Hope is a necessity.





	Negotiating

"It has been two _years_ ," Watson said, turning the wineglass endlessly in his hands, his face empty of hope. "If it were possible for me to give Mary a child, I think we would both know by now."

"And is a child so important?" Holmes asked her, though he knew from her pallor that it was, to her. Elsewise he would never have found himself sitting in their darkened parlor, long past the hour when most of London had crawled into bed for the night. Would never have found himself keeping Watson's revolver in his own pocket for safekeeping, or wondering how to prevent a man with a thousand poisons at his command from spilling just a few grams too many of this or that into his morning coffee.

"I love John," Mary said simply. "But I will need a child to love when he is gone."

And Holmes saw the truth in that, because if there was one thing he respected Mary Morstan Watson for it was her honesty. She had never once tried to prevent her husband from taking his place by Holmes's side when danger threatened. Had never once pretended that she did not know that to forbid John Watson danger was to kill him slowly. Had never once attempted to transform her husband into a tin statue labelled with the epithet "respectable".

But she had expected certain compensations in return. His name. His companionship. His child.

"I don't suppose you'd care to adopt one of my Irregulars," Holmes said, although he instantly apologized for it. "No, no, my dear. I can see that you want a babe of your own. But does it have to be Watson's?"

"You want me to cuckold my husband?" she asked, bright with terror that he had deduced her one thin thread of possibility.

"Not exactly." Holmes turned to Watson. "You cannot be a cuckold if you are there, and part of the act. And I would be very, _very_ careful of your wife."

Watson only stared at his glass. "Do you understand what you're offering?" he asked at last.

"If it keeps you from chucking yourself into the Thames again, I would count the effort well worth it." Holmes fiddled with his pipe, wishing he could light it. Tobacco would be very soothing right about now. They would take some convincing, he knew, but he could already see them both considering the proposition. By morning he'd have talked them into it, no matter how much the prospect of sex with his best friend's wife gave _him_ qualms. "It is, perhaps, not my forte, but I believe a microscopic examination of my semen would confirm my virility. And considering the hazards of detection which you've faced with me, it would be only fitting that I face the hazards of married life with you."

"Hazards of married life?" Mary exclaimed, and a small glimmer of himself came back to Watson's eyes.

"It could be worse, I suppose," he said, looking at Holmes directly for the first time in hours. "It could be lace doilies."


End file.
